Method of and apparatus for handling slag and similar friable material.



D. T. GROXTON. METHOD oF AND APNARATUS FOR HANDLING SLAG AND SIMILAR PNIABLE MATERIAL. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 23. lvll Patented Ma1118, 1913.

2 SHEETSWSHEET l.

mm/ZM/z/ I g 'mm/ D. T. CROXTON. METHOD 0F AND APPARATUS FDR HANDLING SLAG AND SIMILAR FRIARLR MATERIAL.

APPLIGATION FILED JUNE 23.1911.

Patented Mar. 18, 1913.

2 SHEETS-'SHEET 2.

'UNITED sTaTEs PATENT oEEicE.

i Specification of Letters Patent. Application ined June a3, 191 1.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known' that I, DAVID T. Cnoxroiv, a citizen of the United States, resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Methods of and Apparatus for rial, of which the tion, the principle of the invention being herein explained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

My -invention `relates to methods of and apparatus for handling blast 4furnace slag and similar friable material, its object being to effect such handling in an,v etlicient and economical manner.

The said inventionconsists of a method and apparatus hereinafter l fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

It is customary at the present-.time to dispose of blast-furnace slag inany one of the following three Ways: Ways is to' run the molten slag directly from the furnace into ladle-cars on suitable tracks, pull these cars by means ofl locomotives or other suitable means, out pour the slag out upon the latter. ond method isto run the molten slag dir-ectly from the furnaceinto a Well of water, whereby such slag is turned into a granular form, after which it is removed by means of a grab-bucket, loaded on to cars, and hauled out and dumped ata suitable location. The third method isto run the molten slag out from the furnace into long, narrow .and shallow individual rims or runways, in which such slagv is allowed to cool, after Which it'is broken up by hand and loaded by hand into cars and hauled away. It is nearly always desirable to save this slag and convert it into a form in which it may be, after crushing and screening, advantageously used as railroad ballast, road ballast, or as an aggregate for concrete. To make the slag available for these handle saine at a certain `minimum cost, and also to have the slag retain certain qualities of hardness to make it suitable for use for these purposes.

When the slag is handled in the first above -describe'd manner, it forms 1 a hard mass on the dump which cannot be removed except by blasting or by means ofV a steam shovel. This `process is so expensive that the `'lhe vfirst of such` to a dump, and' The sec-A purposes, it is necessary to Patented Mar. -18, 1913.

serial No. 635,003.

cost thereof renders it impractical in some locations to.y use this slag for ballast or concrete aggrgate, and 1t is thereforein such cases allowed become absolute waste.

above-named methods of Handling Slag and Similar-Friable Mate-lA .d

following is a specificano value as co to remain on the dump 'and The second of the handling slag prouces a soft granular substance, which has nci'ete aggregate, or as road-or therefore converted into absolute Waste. The third of-the above-described `in'volving a comparatively high ycost 'of handling, produces forany one o methods also, in addition to a soft material unsuitable f the above-named purposes.

The specific objects of my invention are,

`to handle the slag in a manner such that the 4expense involved therein will not be such as to preclude the practicability'of the use of the slag as ballast or at the Sametime to physical qualification concrete aggregate, and retain in the slag the of hardness which is required to` make it practical for use as such ballast or aggregate.

Incidentally to the above -named` object of reduction of cost, a further specific object is to do away thereby eliminating the the wear and use of sl'ag-ladles, expense incident to tear upon such ladles primarily due to the expansion and contraction of the metal par ts owing tothe excessive variations of temperature incidentto their use;

and to veliminate a further part of the expense of such handling by cheapening ,the

method of di sintegrating the slagafter it has been formed uponcooling into' an integral hardened mass. y

The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detail certain means for carrying out my invention. the disclosed means. howev er. constitutingbut'one of va-I rious forms `in which the principle of my invention maybe employed.v

In said ann plan of a blast furnace exed drawings :`Figure l is a plant arranged inaccordance with my invention, one slag bed being shown Fig. 2 is a ve II`II ot' Fig. 1.` Fig. detail section, upon filled and the other unfilled. rtical `section.l taken upon line 3 is a fragmentary an enlarged scale, of a slag bed and tension-member therein, ar-

of plantv einbo -ranged in accordance with my invention.

an of a modified arrangement dying my invention. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the modification shown in F ig. 4. F

jg; 6 is a. 'fragmentary detail section upon an enlarged scale, of a modified nace, and by means of a plurality of branches c c c c permits the slag to be discharged into these beds, it being customary to dam up the set of branches leading into one bed Whiley the other branches are open, so as to divert the slag into beds, as `may be required. This flushing runner C is ord. narily connected also with the iron runner C by means of the roughing,

runner C2, whereby the slag skimmed 0H the top of the iron may also be diverted into the slag beds, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. Placed in these beds are a plurality of tension-members D, flexible, and preferably consisting of chains of suitable strength, as shown in Fig. 1. These chains extend from one side to the other of the bed, lie upon the botto-m, and are of a length suflicient to project up- Wardly and out over the ends of the beds, as shown in Fig. 3. These ends are held in place by slipping one of the links of such ends over pins E E, driven into the earth adjacent to the Walls of the bed, a suitable number of pins being provided so that the two ends of each tension-member may be so secured. These pinsare preferably placed equi-distantfrom each other, so that the chains may lie parallel vv-ith each other and imparato said chains a fixed relationship longitudinally with reference thereto "of a character such as Will suflice to hold such chains Within the bed in the proper manner during the pouring operation'whereby said chains may, as willV hereafter be described, become embeddedin the mass of slag. The bed having been so prepared, and the chains placed as above described, slag may now be run into same from the furnace, by which action the tension-members'or chains, held in place by the pins E E, become covered with the mass M of Islag or embedded therein, as shown in Fig. 3, it`being preferable to have the tension-members of sufficient length to permit them to lie flat upon the bottom of the bed, asshown, so that `they will become embedded in the bottom 'of the slag mass. rhe size of the bed, both as dimensions and as to depth, is preferably such that it may'contain the slag produced by the furnace in twenty-four hours. These runs of slag are made at the usual intervals,

onel or the other ofthe 1 This breaking action is fact that the tension-member or chain is as Will be readily understood by those skilled in the art, and the slag would, therefore, incidentally exist in the slag bed in the form of layers,

as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

After the slag bed has received its quota of slag, that is, the product of a twenty-four run, it is permitted to cool sufficiently, that is, for a period of about two hours, Whereupon it becomes friable, and maybe handled as hereinafter described. After this cooling operation, one end of each chain in succession is grasped by means of a suitable lifting device, lifted off its detaining pin E, and raised upwardly so as to become detached from the slag mass. This lifting of one end of the chain causes the latter to rip through such lnass, and all the slag adjacent thereto to be broken up and detached therefrom. facilitated by the flexible in its character. This flexibility permits the power to always be applied entirely to that portion of the slag mass from which the chain projects, permitting the great bulk of the slag mass to resist any tendency which it might have to lift up completely with the chain. rThis being the case, that portion of the slag mass from which the chain projects, receives the entire strain effected by the pulling operation, and therefore readily breaks off and disintegrates. After each chain has been so raised and separated from the slag, the entire mass of the latter will rest in the bedA in abroken or disinte'gated state, after which it is removed by any suitable hoisting and conveying apparatus.

As illustrative of one form of device for lifting the tension-members and removing the slag, I have hown an overhead crane F supported upon suitable pillars G placed: laterally of theV beds. This crane is provided With a hoist H traveling upon thegirder of the crane, suitable dimensions, also traveling upon thelatter. By means of the hoist H, it will be seen that the ends of the chains may be attached to the hoists hook and lifted as above described. After this lifting operation has been completed, the grab-bucket J is operated to scoop up the broken slag and deposit it in the cars K running upon a suitable track K placed adjacent to the bed and bel-ow the crane, as will be readily understood.

yln Figs. 4 and, l have illustrated an arrangement wherein the slag, instead of being run into ladle-cars L running along'a track L placed adjacent to the beds upon the side opposite that upon which is placed the track K. ln this modified arrangement of plant, it will be, of course, understood that the principal economy of and a grab-bucket J ofI directly from the furnace into theA l beds. is first run to horizont-al operation resides in the method of breaking slag by means of a lifting device attached up the slag after it has hardened, the use to one of such exposed ends. .of the ladles being similar to that heretofore 7. The method yof handling slag or other employed, and would only be used in suoli similar friable material, which consists in plants as would not provide sutlicient room placing a plurality of tension members on for placing the beds adjacent to the furnace. a bed adapted to receive molten slag; fixing as first above describec. l they ends of such tension members: pouring A further modification may be resorted l molten slag o-ver such member.`- and leaving to, as illustrated in Fig. 6, in which the bott such fixed ends exposed; allowing such slag tom of the bed is provided with parallel to cool and then lifting each ot' such meni- 75 grooves in which the chains are caused to lie. i bers from the slag by means of a lifting' deand covered with sand, as indicated in such vice attached to one of its exposed ends. drawing, to'protect them from any deterio- 8. The method of handling slag or other rating action of theheat of the molten mass. similar friable material` which consists in Where the chains are covered with sand,they placing a flexible tension-member on a bed 80 would of course, not become embedded in adapted to receive molten slag; pouring t-he slag, but in operating the device they such molten yslag onto such bed: allowing would be pulled up through the mass of such slag to cool; then lifting said member slag in the same manner as hereinbefore defrom the slag` whereby the latter is disinscribed. y tegrated. Y

Having fully described my invention, 49. The method of handling slag or other what I claim and desire to secure by LettersI similar friable material, which consists in Patent is placing a plurality of flexible tension-mem` r]. The method of handling slag or other bers on a bed adapted to receive molten similar friable material, which consists in slag; pouring such molten slag upon porpouring molten slag over a flexible tension tions of such tensiolrmembers; allowing member, and then pulling such member up suchslag to cool; and then .lifting the latter through such slag, whereby the latter is disfrom such slag by means of a lifting device integrated. att-ached to the exposed portions of such 2. The method of handling slag or other members. f similar friable material, which consists in 10. The method of handling slag or other pouring molten slag over a plurality of flexisimilar friable material, which consists in ble tensionmembers, and thenl pulling the laying a'flexible tension-member onthe botlatter up through' said slag, whereby the tom of a bed adapted to receive molten slag; latter is disintegrated. pouring such molten slag upon such mem- 100 3. The method of handling slag or other ber, leaving one of its ends exposed; allowsimilar friable material, which consists in ing the slag to cool; and then lifting such embedding a liexible tension-member in the member from the slag by means of a lifting molten slag while such memberiis stationdevice attached to such exposed end. ary, and then separating such member and slag, whereby the latter is disintegrated.

4. The method of handling slag o r other similar friable material, which consists in embedding a flexible tension-member in the molten slag while such member is station-v ary, allowing the slag to cool, and then Withdrawing such member from such slag, whereby the latter is disintegrated.

5. The method of handling slag or other similar `friable material, which consists in `other similar friable material, the combination of a receptacle or bed for receiving the molten slag; a tension member lying in such receptacle or bed; and means for holdship longitudinally with reference thereto. `12. In apparatus for handling slag or other similarv friable material, the combination of a receptacle (ir bed for receiving the molten slag; a flexible tension member placing a tension-'device on a bed adapted lying in such receptacle or bed; and means to receive molten slag; pouring such molten I for holding such tension member in fixed slag upon such member and leaving the endsI relationship longitudinally with reference of same exposed; allowing s uch slag to cool ;y to said member. p

and then lifting such tension member from 13. In apparatus for handling slag or the slag by means of a lifting device atother similar friable material, a combinatached to one of such exposed ends. tion of a receptacle or bed adapted to 're- 6. The method of handling slag or other yceiveJ the molten slag; a flexible tension similar friable material, which consists in member lying in sueh receptacle or bed, and placing a tension-member on a bed adapted having a portieri thereof placed in such reto receive molten slag; fixing 'the ends of Iceptaele o'r bed, and a portion so placed as to such tension device; pouring the molten slag be exposed after the `molten met-al 1s poure'rlA upon such members and leaving such endsv therein; and means for holding such ten#l exposed; allowing such slag to cool; and sion member in fixed relationship longitudithen lifting the tension' member from the nally with reference to said member. ISG

v11..In apparatus for handling slag or 105 ing such tension member in fixed 'relation 110 14. In apparatus forhandling slag or other 'similar friable material, the combination of a bed adapted to receive molten slag; a tension-member placed lin said bed and `having one end projecting out of same; and means for fixing such projecting end'.

15. ln apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material, the combination of a hed Aadapted to receive molten slag: a tension-member placed in said bed and havingr both its ends projecting therefrom: and means for fixing said ends.

1G. In apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material, thejcombination of' a receptacle or bed adapted to receive' the molten slag; a plurality of tension members lying in such receptacle or bed; and means` for holding such tension members in fixed relationship longitudinally with reference thereto.`

'17.ln apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material, the combination ot' a receptacle or bed t'or receivingr the molten slag; a plurality of flexible tension members lying in `such receptacle or bed; and means for holding such tension members in fixed relationship longitudinallj1 with reference thereto. y 18.111 a-pparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material, the combination of' a receptacle or bed for receiving the molten slag: a plurality of tension members lying in said receptacle or bed, each having a portion thereof` placed in the latter, and a portion thereofl so placed as to be exposed after the molten metal is poured into same; and means for holding such tension members in fixed relationship longitudinally with reference thereto.

lf). In apparatus for handling .slag or other similar friable material; the combil l l l l i t, l

nation of a receptacle or bed forreceiving the molten slag; a plurality of flexible tension members, each lying in said receptacle or bed. and placed so as to have one end projecting out of same; and means for holding such tension members in fixed relationship longitudinally with reference thereto.

20. In apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material. the combination with a bed adapted to receive molten slag; of a plurality of tension members. each placed in said bed and having one end projecting out of same; and means for fixing such projecting end.

21.111 apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material. the combination with a bed adapted to receive molten slag; of a plurality of tension members each bed and having both its ends placed in said for fixing projecting therefrom; and means said ends.

22. In apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material, the combination with a bed adapted to receive molten slag; of t. plurality of fiexible tensionmembers.` ach placed in said hed and having one end projecting out of same; and means for fixing such projecting end.

23. ln apparatus for handling slag or other similar friable material. the combination with a bed adapted to receive molten slag; of a plurality of fiexible tension-members. each placed in said bed and having both its ends projecting therefrom; and means for fixing said ends.

Signed by me, this 21st day of June7 1911.

DAVID T. CROXTON.

Attested by CoUn'r B. MUELLER, A. E. MERKEL. 

